Bring Him Home
by Galadriel1010
Summary: One of Jack's work trips has gone badly wrong, and Ianto has had to go to be with him. 18-year-old Mica is left behind to watch over her little cousins and keep them suitably distracted.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** I'm nearly out of stories to post D: Need to do a lot of writing today to make up for it.

* * *

Mica held onto her little cousin's hand and kept an eye on the other one, all the while waving to the plane in the hope that her uncle could see them. Belle tugged her hand free and wrapped her arms tight around Mica's wait, sighing heavily. "Mica, Tad's going to bring Dad back, right?"

"Of course he will," she assured her, brushing back her unruly curls and smiling down at her. "They'll be back before you can miss them."

"I already miss them," Andrew told her quietly, reaching out for Belle's hand. "C'mon, Belle."

They made their way through the airport and up to the car park. It was raining, as usual, and Mica had forgotten to grab her coat in the rush to get Ianto to the airport, so she hugged her arms to her chest to try and warm herself up, resigned to throwing her hoody over the radiator when they got back home. Belle's long, dark hair was soaking by the time they reached the car because she wouldn't put her hood up, and she reached for the front passenger door when Mica unlocked the car. "Belle, back seat."

"Oh but..."

"You're not old enough," Mica cut her off and glared, grateful that Andrew was getting into the back without needing to be told. "Don't start now, please?"

Belle pouted a bit but got in the back as she was told, grabbing the remote for the radio before Mica could get it and sitting back with a smug smile. She strapped herself in without having to be told, though, and set the radio onto Radio Two, which Mica could live with. It was Jack's favourite station, anyway, and Mica wasn't going to begrudge her that comfort when he'd been gone so long. It had seemed like a normal operation, the sort that Jack would come back from complaining of sunburn and midge bites and teams who weren't responsive to his flirting; but then he got kidnapped by aliens, and it all went a bit wrong.

Ianto, of course, had flipped out completely. He was renowned as the sensible one of the family, with the exception of Alice, who was as down-to-Earth as her father was alien and flighty, but if Jack or the kids got injured then all bets were off. He turned into something between an avenging angel and a mother hen, and a source of mild amusement for anyone not standing between him and his loved ones. Mica wasn't stupid, and she'd heard her mam and nan talking about post-traumatic stress disorder when they thought that she was in bed a few years ago. All they could do was help him in any way they could and be there to catch the eventual crash.

Their new house was on the edge of Cardiff closest to the airport, facing out over the city that Jack had protected for so long, but distant from it now that he didn't work in the city every day. It was a big house, built from coal money during the Industrial Revolution, but it had been in a dire state when they bought it and had needed a lot of rebuilding work. So far, they'd got the west wing up to living standards, and were still arguing about what to do with the rest of the house; Jack had the support of almost every family member and friend in his arguments for a pool and games room, but Ianto's argument that they should have offices for practical purposes also held water.

Mica parked in front of the house, away from the trees, and got out to hurry into the house up the sweeping marble steps. She remembered to disengage the alarm, but fumbled the door lock. Belle giggled at her and she faked a glare, shouldering the door open and nearly falling into the marble-floored hall, struck once more by the opulence of the place. "Your dads..." She shook water off her fringe and realised that she was dripping on the floor. "They don't do things by halves, do they?"

Andrew shook his head. He was already pulling his coat off and heading for the closet under the grand, sweeping staircase. "That would be Dad. I think he wants to own most of Cardiff."

"You could have stopped with 'that would be Dad'," she pointed out as she followed him. "Belle, coat off. And both of you upstairs to change into something warmer. In the cupboard, Belle, not on the bannister."

Belle stuck her bottom lip out, but did as she was told. Andrew was already on his way up the staircase, and leaned over to stick his tongue out at them. "First one back downstairs gets to choose the movie?"

"No fair!" Belle shrieked, nearly deafening Mica. She threw her coat at the hook and hurtled towards the stairs after her cackling brother. Mica sighed and hung the coat up properly before she followed them. Her room was the main guest bedroom at the end of the hall, but even from this distance she could hear her cousins yelling to each other. She rolled her eyes and folded her hoody, then placed it over the radiator and wrapped her dressing gown around herself.

Andrew and Belle thundered past and down the stairs and she poked her head out of the door. "Watch yourselves on the stairs!" she bellowed. "I don't want to have to tell your tad that you've broken your neck." They yelled their replies and she rolled her eyes, grabbing a towel for her hair. "Kids these days."

When she got downstairs, sketchpad and pencil case in hand, Belle was in the middle of the sofa with her arms folded and Andrew was going through the DVD cabinet. He smiled at her with a half-frown of thought and looked over his shoulder at Belle. "Come on then, Belle; help me decide?"

She beamed and bounced off the sofa, scurrying over to hug her brother and study the DVDs. "Lion King?"

"Well..." Andrew trailed off, and tilted his head, whilst Mica grabbed a pencil and tried to sketch them quickly whilst they weren't watching. "I don't know."

"Please?"

After a pause he nodded and reached for the catch. Mica smiled to herself, knowing that he'd capitulated because it was a Disney film without a princess, and because Jack liked it. Belle bounced back to the sofa and scrambled up to kneel next to Mica. "Push off, squirt," she muttered. "Watch your film."

"It's not started yet," she pointed out, even as the TV screen came on. "Will you plait my hair?" Mica pursed her lips and Belle covered her mouth as if she'd sworn. "Please will you plait my hair?"

"I'll do it when I've finished this," she promised. "Now sit down properly."

Andrew came back to the sofa and wrapped his arm around his little sister, pulling her to rest her head against his shoulder, and she snuggled into him, arms around him and curls draped over his shoulder. They were utterly adorable, and Mica wished that she and David had been like that, but Belle and Andrew took after their parents and she and David took after theirs. It was sullen arguments again at the Davies house, which was why Mica was at the Harkness-Jones house, where it was almost always chocolate cake and freesias because they reminded Jack and Ianto of Guernsey and roses made Ianto sneeze. It was a happiness that maybe David and Steven had found, for all that they were more likely to sit on opposite ends of the sofa playing video games than next to each other watching films, and one that Mica longed for. Having been a witness to it for so long, she didn't think she could settle for less.

She finished the sketch and set it aside, beckoning to Belle. "Plait your hair?" she offered.

Belle grinned at her and kissed Andrew's cheek before she scrambled over to Mica. He wiped it off with a wry smile and settled back into the sofa with his legs swinging, eyes fixed on the TV screen. Mica's fingers slipped through soft, damp curls, and she snuck a cuddle. They were family, her family; the best family in the world.


	2. Chapter 2

The one disadvantage Mica found with babysitting her cousins for long periods was that she did not do mornings, and they did. Like everyone else in her family, and like Belle probably would, she had grown out of mornings in her mid-teens and now preferred to be woken in the afternoon, if at all. Jack, of course, rose at dawn, Belle was still young enough that they didn't know which parent she took after, and Andrew had either learned it from Jack or inherited it from his biological parents, whoever they were.

Right now, Belle and Andrew were on the end of Mica's bed armed with pillows and wicked grins. "I'm not awake enough to modulate my language," she growled, "and Ianto will kill me if I teach you to swear."

Andrew smiled, although it was completely ruined by the look of cunning in his eyes and the pillow hanging from his hands. "You shouldn't swear anyway, Mica. It's naughty."

"I am naughty," she pointed out, trying to edge away from them and burrow further under the duvet. "I'll be a bad influence on you, so stay away."

"But Mica," Belle whined, "I'm hungry."

She burrowed her head into the pillow a moment longer, then sat up and tangled her hand in her messy hair, yawning and stretching. "Hit me with those pillows and you can get your own breakfasts, okay?"

"Okay!"

Dear God, did the child really need to use so many exclamation marks so early in the morning? She'd always had an excess of them, in Mica's opinion. Yawning, she dragged herself out of bed and looked down at her bare legs, shorts just visible under the baggy T shirt she wore. "Okay kids, scram. I'm gonna get dressed, then I'll see you in the kitchen. Slippers both of you."

She changed into her underused but comfortable jogging bottoms and matching hoody, disinclined to get dressed properly when she had no intention of even leaving the house, and hunted her slippers out from under the bed. Down in the kitchen, when she got there, Andrew was standing on a chair to get in the cupboard. "Andrew, down," she snapped, her voice losing some of the strength she wanted it to have in a scared wobble. She hurried over and helped him down, then squeezed his shoulder. "Just because Jack and Ianto aren't here, that doesn't mean that their rules don't apply, okay?"

"I'm sorry, Mica." His lower lip trembled, but he tried to hide it and meet her eyes.

"Andrew..." She sighed and hugged him. "We don't want you getting hurt. What would happen if you fell? You'd crack your head open on the counter, and you're not Jack."

"Sorry, Mica."

"I know you are," she pushed him away and put the chair back at the table, giving Belle a stern glance. "Next time, don't encourage him. Or try to discourage him, even. What were you looking for?"

"The cereal."

The cereal, of course. The special cereal, which came out when Ianto wasn't home because he thought it was unhealthy, despite the fact that it was whole grain and multigrain and all that stuff. Mica thought that it was a sad imitation of chocolate chip cookies, but Jack and the kids liked it, so they could have it. Well, Jack couldn't.

She reached into the cupboard, pushing up on her tiptoes to reach the box at the back of the top shelf. "They don't make things easy, do they?"

Andrew laughed. "Do you want a chair to stand on?"

Finally finding the box with her fingers, she pulled it out and shook it. "Nearly new box, too. I hope we've got milk in..."

Andrew and Belle feigned fear as she crept to the fridge and opened the door, then she pressed a hand to her chest and sighed in relief. "We have milk, and plenty of it. We're okay."

She bustled around the kitchen finding bowls and spoons, setting the cereal, including honey nut cornflakes for herself, on the table with the milk and collecting glasses and cartons of fruit juice. Breakfast was definitely fun, filled with a slight sense of 'we might get in trouble for this', and some hope that they would, because that would mean that Ianto was back with Jack.

Belle went for second of the cereal and pressed a finger to her lips. "I won't tell if you won't."

"He'll know anyway," Mica pointed out dubiously.

"No he won't," Andrew insisted with an angelic look. "Because we'll say that you had some."

She paused, spoon halfway to her mouth. "Gee... thanks."

"You're welcome."


	3. Chapter 3

Mica looked up from her sketchpad and raised her eyebrow. "What?"

"Nothing." Belle folded her arms and rested her chin on them, smiling sweetly. "What you doing?"

"I'm drawing, aren't I?" She glanced up again and tilted her head. "Are you bored?"

Belle shook her head, but her bottom lip jutted. "I'm okay."

Mica nodded and turned her attention back to her sketch, adding in a couple of markers so that she could come back to it later. "I guess you won't want to help me make biscuits then."

"I didn't say that," she protested, raising her head. "Why do you need to make biscuits?"

"Because I like biscuits," Mica told her and smirked at her. "Do we need a reason for biscuits?"

Belle considered this for a moment, then scrambled to her feet. "I don't know, but that is a good reason for biscuits. Should I get Andrew?"

"See if he wants to, sure," she agreed. "But if he wants to keep playing his game then let him. We'll save him some biscuits, won't we?"

"Mmm..." Belle tipped her head to one side to think about it. "Okay. We should save some for Daddy and Tad too."

"Of course we will." Mica flipped her pad closed and smiled at her. "You go and find Andrew, and I'll get ready for baking in the kitchen."

She was nearly ready when Andrew and Belle scuttled into the room, with two mixing bowls and wooden spoons and all the ingredients they needed set out on the counter. "Wash your hands," she instructed, "and get an apron from the drawer."

"Mica, what sort of biscuits are we making?" Andrew wanted to know.

"Um, shortbread," she looked at the ingredients they had thoughtfully. "I should have gone shopping first, but we have enough."

"Can we decorate them?"

"Well of course," she scoffed. "Can't have undecorated shortbread."

She supervised, hands on her hips and wooden spoon wielded as a baton, guiding Andrew and Belle through mixing together the flour, sugar and butter with a drop of vanilla essence. They both had to stand on buffets, because Jack's pouting and persuading that they should learn to cook for themselves had lost out to Ianto's pointing out that they would grow, and would do it quickly. The counters were actually set slightly higher than the standard, because Jack and Ianto were both six feet tall, and Jones women tended to reach nearly that – Mica herself was five foot nine, and David passed Jack and Ianto before he and Steven disappeared off around the world, so who knew how tall he was by now?

Andrew was neat, as he was in everything. He weighed all his ingredients out exactly, frowning with concentration and keeping nearly all of it in the bowl. It came partly from his years of living in foster homes and trying not to be a bother, trying to make himself as small as possible so that he could find a space to fit into more easily. Part of it was just natural, though, and so many people had managed to overlook him. Jack never let anyone fade into the background, though, and Mica thought that Andrew had been so like Ianto that Jack had loved him immediately.

Belle, meanwhile, had had butter on her nose nearly from the start, and there was nearly more flour on her apron than in the bowl. Okay, so she was still seven, but she made a mess, and she didn't get it from either of her fathers. Even Jack had a military neatness – gained, unsurprisingly, during his time in the military – even though it lent itself more to clutter than Ianto's did. But Belle was a whirlwind in everything, and she did it with such joy that no one could fault her for it. Well, except when they were trying to clean up after her.

"Belle, you know we're not supposed to put the dough onto the work surface until it's ready to roll out..." Mica tried not to laugh and caught Belle's hair up again, clipping it out of the way with a bright pink flower clip that lived on one of the drawer handles. "Although we do have a ready floured surface, I suppose."

She helped Belle to mix her dough together properly, then helped them both to roll it out. Jack had quite a collection of cutters of different shapes and sizes, which Mica laid out on the table for them to choose from. Belle chose a selection of six, and Andrew went for the six-pointed star shaped cutter. The biscuits were soon in the oven, and they cleared the table to be able to decorate them.

Mica studied the chocolate flavour body paint for a couple of seconds and put it back where she found it before the kids could see it. Even without it, they had a box full of icing in tubes of all sizes and colours, and enough roll-out icing for them to be able to cover each biscuit. She'd never really worried about this fact before now. "Okay." She set the box down on the table and got out the packets of roll out icing. "Choose your coverings, and I'll find jam to attach them to the biscuits. Belle, no eating the icing."

It was chaos. A nice sort of chaos, but chaos non-the-less. Mica sagged against a chair and rubbed at her nose, trying to shift the blob of icing she could see in the corner of her vision. Andrew and Belle had both gone for baths obediently – and boy did they need them – and Mica was left with the clean-up. There was icing everywhere. She straightened Belle's 'Tad' biscuit – heart-shaped and far too pink for Ianto's tastes, but he wouldn't mind – and grinned. "Oops?"


	4. Chapter 4

Ianto sat down on the end of the bed and rubbed at his tired eyes. He'd been in Ecuador for twelve hours by now, so it was about twenty four hours since he left Wales, left Belle and Andrew with Mica to try to find Jack. Twenty eight hours since he got the call telling him that Jack had triggered an anti-trespassing system in the ancient pyramid and hadn't been seen since. They'd called the rescue team back as soon as Ianto arrived and was able to decode the message transmitted with the trigger. No point looking in a pyramid for someone who you know has been teleported off-world.

The heels of his palms came away wet from rubbing at his eyes, and he dropped his face into his hands, pressing his fingers against his eyelids as if that would get rid of the images running behind them. Memories segued into fantasy until he couldn't be sure which was which. Most people would be able to dismiss the bits with aliens as pure fantasy, but Ianto couldn't. And, of course, he had an ample catalogue of images of Jack dead and dying for his mind to bring up for him.

He growled and pushed up off the bed, pacing backwards and forwards between the end of the bed and the plate glass window. Jack had been given a top floor suite, with two bedrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen, two huge ensuite bathrooms and a balcony with loungers and a hot tub. The balcony was between the two bedrooms, with the living room on the third side, so the bedrooms and balcony all had superb views across the lush rainforest to the imposing ruins that Jack had been called out here to investigate. Only the night before, Jack had been in the hot tub whilst he was on the phone to Ianto, telling him how much he wished he were here to enjoy it with him.

Well he was here. Not so much of the enjoying, or the with him, but here. He ran his hands through his hair once more and his gaze dropped to his case at the end of the bed, and he hauled it up onto the bed to open it and put his things away. It wasn't the right climate for shirts and suits out here, so he'd brought short sleeved shirts and loose trousers.

The wardrobe was huge, and barely a quarter of it was taken up with a row of blue shirts. Ianto was just putting his shirts away alongside Jack's when a flash of red caught his eye amongst the blue. He smoothed his shirt out to let the creases drop out and tugged on the red, finding a silk shirt sleeve. "Oh Jack..."

He blinked back tears again and stroked the cuff once more, then lifted one of Jack's shirts out. The soft cotton was so familiar and the colour spoke so much of home, it made him ache. He slid it off the hanger and sank down onto the bed, pressing the material to his lips and inhaling Jack's unique scent. "Please come home," he whispered. If he closed his eyes he could nearly believe that Jack was there with him. "I don't know how long I can do this without you."

* * *

A knock on the door roused him and he grumbled, opening his eyes reluctantly. It took a few seconds for the fog to seep away and unveil the room he'd been sleeping in, and for the smell of Jack to retreat to just that. It had been comforting, being surrounded by that familiar odour, so much so that he'd fallen into an exhausted sleep. The knock came again and someone called out, "Director? Are you alright in there?"

He got up and went to the door, running his hands through his hair to neaten it. "Yes?" he asked, looking down at the runner they'd sent to get him. "Sorry, I was asleep."

"Long day," the soldier commiserated. "Commander Fernando sent me to fetch you, sir. They've found the teleport controls."

He swallowed hard and nodded. "I'll be right down. Just give me time to change. What's your name?"

"Phillip, sir."

"Right. Back in a moment then, Phillip." He closed the door and fumbled with the buttons on the shirt he'd travelled in, which was creased from sleeping in it and the fact that he'd been wearing it in the sultry heat for so many hours. Dropping it on the end of the bed, he pulled open the wardrobe and reached for one of his short-sleeved shirts, but that glimpse of red caught his eye again and he smiled.

Phillip drove him out to the pyramid and led him up the steps and into the cool, dark interior. Battery powered lights had been placed on the lamp shelf halfway up, and he carried an LED lamp as well to light the way. The walls were painted with depictions of religious ceremonies which seemed to feature a lot of death and an inhuman god figure. "I guess we can be certain that Supay wasn't from around here, then."

"No. It confirms the theories about his demons as well." Phillip brought the lamp closer to the wall and revealed a gruesome frieze of child sacrifice. "Makes you wonder why he stopped."

"Maybe the conquistadores were just too much for him to deal with," Ianto suggested. "or maybe he forgot about them when it stopped being worth it." He clenched his fists and hoped that there was no one at the other end by now, but somewhere safe for Jack to land. "How far is it?"

"Down a level yet. Not far, though."

They found the staircase in the grand hall, behind the sacrificial altar, and descended into the priests' rooms below. Commander Fernando was standing against the wall next to a doorway into a room now lit with clear white light. "Director Jones, welcome back," she greeted him in her lilting accent. "I hope your rest was sufficiente?"

"Brief, but restful," he told her. He glanced at Phillip's insignia and to smile at him. "The Corporal tells me that you've found the teleport device?"

"Yes, señor." She gestured into the room. "I can show you."

He followed her in, past the large stone bed and the altar to a panel on the back wall. A UNIT technician was crouching in front of it with a scanner, and she looked up at him before moving aside. "Señor."

"I'm sorry, Director, but Maria does not speak English. I can provide a translation, though."

"That's not necessary," he assured her in Spanish. "My Spanish is rusty, but I can get by. What have we got here?"

Maria smiled at him and showed him the readings. "Low energy levels. They were probably just strong enough to teleport the Director out of here when he touched the trigger panel. Whether he knew what he'd found and did it on purpose and found himself unable to get back, or just activated it by accident, we can't tell."

He nodded and set his bag down on the floor, pulling out his tool kit. "Have you been able to access the controls?"

She fiddled under the panel and lifted it. What had appeared to be stone was just a covering to hide the complex device underneath it. "It must be centuries old, though."

"It's new enough," Ianto assured her. "I've not seen one quite like this before, but it's based on the Telgari system, and they're always similar enough."

"What do we need to do?" she asked.

He clucked his tongue. "Haven't you got a reverser in that kit? Reverse the polarity. Fiddly if you've never done it before. Fiddly if you have done it before," he admitted, opening the system carefully. "But it's the only failsafe these things have, so it's easy to do."

She nodded and sat back on her heels to watch him working; long, calloused fingers connecting wires to shortcut the power. "You have done this before?"

"Oh yeah," he chuckled. "Useful when someone's been using one of these systems where they're not supposed to, and they've escaped using it. Just hook this little thing up and back they come. I've got it."

She nodded and gestured to it. "I'll activate it. Then you can wait for him."

He smiled at her gratefully and handed it over. "Just flick the switch in the middle to the left."

They waited whilst the power surged with a fizzing noise, and then a frission of power raised their hair and Jack appeared just inside the doorway, swaying and pale but safe. He blinked as if unaccustomed to the light and his face lit up when he saw Ianto. "Did you miss me?"

"Only because I wasn't trying hard enough," he joked. "Come here."

Jack stumbled to meet him and nearly fell into Ianto's arms, clinging to his shoulders and burying his face in his neck whilst the teleportation-induced dizziness wore off. They held onto each other tightly, and Ianto focussed everything he had on Jack, stroking his fingers through his hair and running his palms over his shoulders to reassure and ground him. All that mattered, right now, was that Jack was back in his arms where he belonged.


	5. Chapter 5

Ianto knew that Jack was watching him closely, because he was watching Jack closely. They'd stayed in the temple to reconfigure the teleport machine so that the UNIT squad could use it to investigate the other side and, hopefully, convey a cease-and-desist message to whoever was there, but now they were finished and just about to head back to the hotel to sleep before they were taken back to the airport. What annoyed him most was the fact that Jack hadn't needed to be here at all. A competent team from Mexico City, or New York if they really needed specialist skills, could have told them exactly what Jack did, and would have been able to find the teleport without setting it off and endangering anyone. But as happened so often these days, the small local team had stumbled on something beyond them and called for the highest authority figure, and their superiors at the head office had signed off on it and brought him over without the follow-up and support that should have been able to return Jack to Earth in under five minutes.

Someone touched his arm and he startled, stilling his instinct to shy away when he realised it was Jack. He gave him a tired smile and nodded past him. "All sorted?"

"Yeah." Jack squeezed his arm and tugged on it. "Come on, you need sleep. You look shattered."

Jack's hand slid down his arm and Ianto spread his fingers so that Jack could lace his between them. He smiled and tightened his grip. "I missed you."

They got outside into warm sunshine instead of cold LED light and Jack was still looking paler than usual. The other end of the teleport was a containment cell, but the facility it was in seemed to have been abandoned for a long time, so he was tired, shaken and hungry but, thankfully, unhurt. Ianto tightened his grip further and led him down the worn stone steps to where a pretty young corporal was waiting with a jeep to take them back to the hotel. Commander Fernando had arranged for food to be sent up to their suite, so they spent the journey in silence, holding hands and watching the rainforest outside the vehicle, and didn't speak until they were in the dining room, studying the spread that had been laid out for them with some confusion. "I think we might have to take a picnic," Jack joked. "I hope you're hungry."

Ianto swallowed and nodded. He'd picked at his food on the plane, wolfed down a sandwich when he got here and eaten half an apple before he went to put his things away before he crashed out. Eating hadn't seemed important, really. "Yeah..." He closed his eyes and shook his head and the world swayed around him.

Jack's arms tightened around him and Ianto dropped his cheek onto his shoulder, wondering when Jack got across the room like that. He clenched his fingers in Jack's shirt and breathed in deeply, calming breaths that smelled of home and safety and not having a panic attack as the last day caught up with him. Jack held him close with one arm and rubbed smooth circles on his back, trying to calm his shaking. "Ianto? Oh sweetheart, I'm sorry."

He choked on a laugh and tightened his grasp, shaking his head against Jack's shoulder. "I'm okay." He wasn't, not if Jack was calling him 'sweetheart', but he would be now that he had Jack back. Closing his eyes he leaned into Jack more and let Jack guide them down to the floor where they couldn't fall any further. "Sorry." Jack sighed and kissed his temple, letting his lips linger there. Ianto's breathing and heartrate were steadying, and his shaking had calmed a bit at least. He could feel it now with Jack's solid strength to compare it to, and it was probably terrifying Jack, although he was stronger than Ianto and wouldn't let on. "Just... exhaustion."

"Just exhaustion?" Jack sighed wearily and shifted Ianto so that he could lean against the wall and Ianto could curl up in his lap. "I think it's a bit more than that."

Ianto shrugged and concentrated on taking deep breaths. There was delayed shock, and hunger, and definitely exhaustion all rolled into one and topped off with anger at the incompetence of the UNIT team who brought them out here. They hadn't needed a doctor to diagnose him with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, but it had helped them to get a handle on it and keep it under control. Sometimes, though, his control slipped; it would be a while before he could sleep through the night after this. "I'm getting there," he said at last.

"Okay." Jack guided him into a sitting position against the wall and wiped away his tears before Ianto could, brushing his fingers along Ianto's cheekbones with lingering tenderness and kissing away his tear tracks. "Do you feel better for that?"

"A bit," he admitted, successfully forcing himself to meet Jack's eyes, although he was less successful at not feeling ashamed. "Sorry."

Jack sighed again and picked Ianto's left hand up in his own, rubbing his thumb over Ianto's wedding ring. "Look at us. We've seen so much, enough to send other people beyond mad. But we're still here. You're still here. You have nothing to apologise for."

Smiling, Ianto raised their joined hands and kissed Jack's knuckles. "I delayed you eating."

"Fair point," Jack laughed. He reached out and cupped Ianto's cheek in his free hand, brushing the pad of his thumb over his temple when Ianto nuzzled into his palm. "How about you get yourself into bed and I'll bring us some food through?"

He nodded and let Jack pull him up, then framed Jack's face in his hands and leaned in to kiss him gently. "I'm glad you're back."

"Thank you for coming for me." Jack looped his arms around Ianto's waist and swayed him to some silent music. "You shouldn't have had to, and we will bash heads together when we're done. But thank you."

"I'll always come for you, Jack."

"And I'll always come back to you," Jack promised him.


	6. Chapter 6

Mica studied the instructions on dinner that she'd been left. Somehow, her uncle managed to make even spaghetti bolognaise incomprehensible. Well, she thought that that said spaghetti... "Andrew," she started, looking over her shoulder at him. "Can you read your tad's handwriting?"

He shook his head, a hint of a smile lighting up his eyes. "Dad says that it's in Welsh."

She looked back at it and shook her head. "That is not Welsh. I don't know what it is, but it isn't Welsh."

"Is it English?"

"I'm not entirely sure," she confessed. She'd already collected the ingredients together on the work surface, so she crumpled the instructions and threw them towards the bin, missing by inches. "It's only spaghetti bolognaise; how hard can it be?"

* * *

Belle was in the bath, Andrew was keeping Tybalt distracted, and Mica was mopping bolognaise sauce up off the floor when the phone on the secure line rang. She groaned and propped the mop against the freshly scrubbed cooker top and ran to get the phone, which was located in her uncles' snug. It kept ringing whilst she tried to locate it under a pile of Jack's papers, so it was either Ianto or the end of the world – again. Locating it at last, she flopped into Ianto's chair and brushed her hair back to compose herself, just in case it was the Prime Minister or someone important. Not that Ianto wasn't important...

"Hello?" She closed her eyes and hoped...

"_Mica, hi,"_ Ianto greeted her.

"Ianto!" Mica sat upright and beamed. "What news?"

He chuckled and she knew it was good. There was strain in there, but that was to be expected, really. _"Are the kids there?"_

"Belle's in the bath, I'll take you up," she told him. "Is himself there?"

"_Yeah, I've got him,"_ Ianto assured her.

"Good, good." Mica stuck her head around the living room door and smiled at Andrew. "Got your tad on the phone. Conference call in the bathroom."

He followed her up and sat on the edge of the bath. Belle was unconcerned, except with blowing piles of bubbles at both of them. "Belle, stop it," Mica chided, looking for the right button on the handset. She found it and pressed it, closing one eye and hoping. "Uncle Ianto?"

"_Are we on speaker phone?"_ he asked.

"Taddy!" Belle nearly bounced out of the bath. "Where are you?"

He laughed down the line. _"Give me two seconds kids. There's someone wants to talk to you."_

There was a beep that signalled Ianto going to speaker-phone or their headsets, and then a low, fond chuckle. _"How's my gorgeous girl and best boy? And naughty niece,"_ Jack added.

"Dad!" Andrew's face lit up, and he leaned towards the phone. "Tad found you."

"_Yeah, he did,"_ Jack agreed, and the edges of his voice softened further, as if he were looking right at Ianto. _"Simple process, really. He just had to reverse the polarity on the teleport system."_

"_Only Jack would get himself stuck in something so simple,"_ Ianto teased.

"Are you coming home soon?" Belle asked, wide-eyed and hopeful.

"_Soon,"_ Jack confirmed, and she squealed with happiness. _"We're flying home tomorrow, for us, so we should be there to pick you up from school, okay?"_

"Don't want to go to school," she pouted at the phone and splashed in the bath to make her point.

Ianto's laugh was a deep rumble, suggesting that he'd been pushed to the brink of exhaustion. _"You have to go to school, carina. We'll go out for dinner in the evening, though."_

She sploshed unhappily, but pouted an, "Okay."

"_You're coming too, right Mica?"_ Jack asked.

"I'd love to," she told him. "Thank you."

"_You're always welcome, Mica,"_ Ianto assured her. _"Now... if my clock's right, then it's nearly Belle's bedtime..."_

"Oh Taddy..."

"_No buts, squirt,"_ Jack told her with a laugh. _"Let us talk to Andrew for a bit, and if you're quick getting ready for bed I'll tell you a story."_

"Okay." That cheered her up, so Mica passed the phone to Andrew and settled down on the edge of the bath to help Belle wash her hair properly.

Nearly an hour later, she collected the phone form Belle's loose hand and pressed a kiss to her forehead. She wedged the phone between her ear and her shoulder to straighten the duvet over her and talk to Jack at the same time. "Your audience is asleep, Jack."

"_The one at this end is too,"_ he sighed. _"I just have this way with words."_

"I won't ask you for a story then," she teased. "Ianto must be exhausted to be asleep this early."

"_Yeah, he is. It was all a bit of a... well, a fuck up to be honest. They shouldn't have called me out, and I should have been more careful."_ He sighed, and Mica leant against the wall between the two bedrooms to hear him out. _"We could have got a flight back sooner, but I wanted to make sure he'd got some rest before we did the flight."_

"That's understandable," she assured him. "You'll be back soon anyway. Going to join the mile high club?"

He laughed. _"Been members for years. I should go, before I disturb Ianto."_

"Yeah." She moved away from the wall and headed downstairs. "Look after him for us."

"_I always will."_

"I know. Love you, Uncle Jack."

"_Love you too, Princess," _he told her._ "We'll see you tomorrow. Sleep well."_

"Night night." She hung up and returned the phone to the snug, then spent the rest of the evening in Jack's chair with her sketchpad, using the photo he kept on his desk as a reference.


	7. Chapter 7

Andrew hitched his bookbag higher on his shoulders and smiled at his friend Sarah. She was telling him about her cat, but he wasn't really listening, already looking past her to the school gate for his dads. He couldn't see them amongst the crowd of other parents, but he knew they were there. Dad had promised that they'd be there.

Someone crashed into his side and he looked down to see Belle wrapping her arms around him and grinning widely. "I got a star!"

Sarah leaned forwards to look around him. "Hello Belle."

"Hello Sarah!" Belle beamed at her and Sarah stuck her tongue out. "Our dads are home."

"Oh?" she looked up towards the gate, following Andrew's gaze. "Where did they go?"

Andrew shrugged and wrapped his arm around Belle's shoulders to ease her through a group of his classmates – he was in the top year, and they were all big enough that they could hurt Belle by accident. They'd never do it on purpose, though; Belle was too sweet, and Tad was too scary. "Dad got in trouble, and Tad had to rescue him."

"That's so sweet," Sarah sighed.

"Daddy!" Belle ducked out from Andrew's arm and hurtled towards a gap in the crowd where she'd just seen Dad appear. He stepped to the side, inside the gate but out of the way of people trying to get in and out, and crouched down with his arms open. Belle threw her arms around his neck, chattering excitedly, and he tightened his grip around her and swept her up, swinging her legs to make her laugh.

Andrew ran after her, his bag bouncing on his back and Sarah close behind, and ducked under Dad's offered arm to hug him. "Heya Dad."

"Hey Monster," he ruffled Andrew's hair and hugged him again. "Hello Sarah."

"Hello Mr Harkness." She smiled up at him. "Welcome home."

"Thank you. I'm glad to be home."

Tad came through the gate behind Dad. He looked tired, somehow, but he was smiling and happy to see them. Andrew slipped out of Dad's grasp and buried his face in Tad's chest, hiding a growing smile. "Hello."

"Heya cariad," Tad smiled down at him. "How was school?"

He shrugged and looked up. "Not as good as hometime."

Sarah spotted her mum and hurried over to her, waving over her shoulder, and Dad put Belle down to walk so that he could take her hand once they got through the gate to cross the road. Andrew held onto Tad's hand tightly, keeping close and enjoying the feelings of safety that Tad always gave him. His hands were big and strong, soft in some places and hard in others, but never rough; always gentle, even when he did something he shouldn't, like standing on the chair to get into the cupboard yesterday morning. Dad and Tad were just the same like that, they would never hurt him.

Tad squeezed his hand and he looked up at him, smiling sheepishly. Fingers brushed through his hair and he leaned into them happily. "What are you thinking?" Tad asked.

"I'm happy you're home," he answered.

"I'm happy we're home, too," Tad told him. "We missed you."

He lifted Tad's arm so that it draped over his shoulder and smiled when Tad tightened his grip to hug him closer. "I love you, Tad."

"I love you too, Andrew." Tad squeezed his shoulder, and Andrew looked up to see Dad on his other side, carrying Belle piggy-back again. He knew that they had to go away sometimes, to have adventures and save the world like the people in Dad's stories. But Andrew knew that they'd always come back here, because they loved him, and they loved Belle, and they loved each other. And that was all he needed.

* * *

Andrew watched Tad's hands cutting and buttering bread for Belle, and Dad's hands gesturing to add emphasis to the story he was telling. It was another story about people he used to work with, before he met Tad, friends who he never saw any more. It made him sad, Andrew could tell, but he liked to talk about them. Andrew thought that they'd probably died, like his mum, but Dad still remembered and missed them. Dad had promised him that he'd always come back, and that he'd never leave Andrew alone, and he believed him, because Dad would never break his promise.

Tad's finger brushed his cheek and he blinked, swinging his head around to smile sheepishly at Tad. He just smiled softly, though, and tapped the tip of Andrew's nose. "You're thinking."

"Yep." He turned his attention back to his dinner, comparing his own small hands to Dad's and Tad's. One day he'd have big, gentle hands too, and he'd look after people with them. "Listening to Dad's story."

"You'll make him big headed," Tad teased, but he didn't mean it. He'd been listening to the story too, Andrew could tell. Tad always loved Dad's stories, except when he was in them. Those were Andrew's favourite stories, though, so Tad always let Dad tell them, even though they embarrassed him. Tad was like that, but Dad seemed to love stories about himself (not as much as he loved the stories about Tad, though.) "How's your dinner?"

"It's nice." He smiled and gestured with a chip to prove it. Tad laughed and wiped a smear of ketchup off his cheek. "Oops."

"Messy," he chided. "You take after your dad."

"Hey!" Dad protested. "We get bonus points for enthusiasm, right?"

"Always," Tad assured him.

"That's alright then." Dad smiled softly and launched into another story to entertain them, and Tad pulled that face again that said that Dad was silly, but that Tad loved him anyway. Andrew swung his legs under the table and enjoyed his dinner. Everything was absolutely okay.


	8. Coda

Ianto rested his cheek on the top of Andrew's head and watched Jack's hands gesticulating. They were in Belle's room so that he could tell them both a story at the same time, with Belle tucked up in bed and Andrew wrapped in his duvet in Ianto's lap, snuggled against his chest. Mica was just inside the doorway, watching all of them.

"And do you know what I found?" Jack asked. He'd just got to the point in the story where he activated the teleport device – although he made it sound less accidental than it had been. Belle shook her head and blinked, fighting to stay awake. "There was nobody there. An empty building, with all sorts of machines that hadn't been used for many, many years. And none of it worked, so I couldn't find my way back."

"But Tad found you." She smiled up at Jack and he brushed a stray curl back off her face.

"Yes he did. He came looking for me, fixed the machine and brought me home. Just like he always does," he told her. "And now you need to sleep."

"But..." she was nearly asleep already, and didn't protest for long. Jack bent down to kiss her goodnight and she smiled. "Night night Daddy."

"Sweet dreams, Angel." He turned to Ianto and held his arms out for Andrew, who wriggled forwards to cuddle up to him and let Ianto up. "I'll get this one settled."

Ianto nodded and looked over his shoulder to see that Mica had already gone. Jack carried Andrew out of the room and down the hall to his own bedroom, and Ianto stood up to straighten Belle's duvet and tuck her in carefully. "Sleep well carina," he whispered, kissing her forehead.

She smiled up at him and closed her eyes. "You're my hero," she told him.

He blinked away the stinging in his eyes and swallowed hard, watching her slip into sleep as carefree as any child her age should be. He'd worried so often that they were damaging their children with their lifestyle... "I'll always be your hero," he promised.

When he paused in the doorway of Andrew's bedroom, it was to watch Andrew watching Jack, who was sorting out Andrew's school uniform for the next day, setting his shoes neatly together with a pair of socks in them, all ready for him to get dressed in a hurry in the morning. He pushed away from the door frame and sat on the edge of Andrew's bed, leaning down to kiss his forehead. "Sleep well."

"You too." Andrew raised his arms for a hug and got one, tightening his arms around Ianto's neck and resting his cheek against his chest. "I love you, Tad."

"I love you too." Ianto hugged him tightly for a moment, then eased him back into bed and tucked him in again. "There we go. Sleep now, okay?"

"Uh huh."

Ianto smiled down at him and got up, joining Jack in the doorway. He turned the light out and closed the door, then reached up to wind his fingers in Jack's hair and pull him in for a deep, slow kiss. They leaned together with Ianto's hands in Jack's hair and Jack's hands on Ianto's waist, lips pressed together and tongues stroking gently. "I'm glad you're home," he whispered, pulling back to brush his fingertips down to Jack's jack. "And safe."

Jack smiled and brushed feather-soft kissed across Ianto's cheek. "So am I. I knew you'd come for me."

"Always." Ianto chuckled at him and passed up the opportunity for innuendo. "Come to bed."

Jack released him long enough for them to get into the bedroom and strip down, then they curled together in bed, unable to touch each other enough or get close enough. He'd nearly lost Jack on his trip, a teleport device that old could have gone fatally wrong and there would have been no return. But he was here now, so alive and happy and loving in Ianto's arms, and it just served to remind him of how lucky they were to have each other.

Later, when Jack slept, having spent the previous night looking after Ianto, he returned the favour and watched over him, his way of giving thanks for everything that Jack had given him.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I hope you've enjoyed this slightly random ramble through the family's life. If you've enjoyed it, please think about dropping me a review so I can say hi and thank you :)

NaNoWriMo is killing me. Not at all softly.


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